Please mark your calendars! The new deadline for abstract submissions is April 15 of each year. The 2020 Call for Papers for the 24th Annual Conference "Reducing Racial and Economic Inequality" will be available March 1, 2019, with the submission deadline of April 15, 2019.

See below for additional information (title, speakers, and descriptions)

Research Methods Workshops

The Thursday plenary session and invited symposia are developed by the Vice President/Conference Chair. The Thursday morning workshop sessions are developed by the Vice President-elect. The SSWR Board of Directors and the Conference Committee provides input into the development of all invited sessions.

Thursday, January 17, 2019
Registration fee is $100. Register early as space is limited!

8:00 am – 12:00 pm

RMW-1: Using a Community Based Participatory Research Approach to Address Gender Based Violence

In community-based participatory research (CBPR), researchers and community members collaborate throughout all research phases, from design to dissemination. At its best, CBPR provides opportunities for meaningful learning, growth, and capacity-building for all partners. We will illustrate some benefits and challenges of CBPR using examples from a multilingual community-led research project. In this project, a diverse group of anti-domestic violence advocates designed and executed research in their own, historically marginalized communities. This interactive session aims to increase attendees’ knowledge of participatory methodologies by sharing tools and lessons learned from this project, as well as theoretical and practical considerations discussed in the recently-published CBPR Toolkit for Domestic Violence Researchers (co-authored by one of the presenters). The session includes the following learning objectives: 1) addressing communities’ expectations and prior history with external researchers, using tools like Project Agreements; 2) engaging in self-reflection and identifying power dynamics; 3) recognizing community partners’ knowledge and skills, and scaffolding research capacity-building on these strengths; and 4) incorporating language justice and trauma-informed approaches. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of practitioners, researchers, and community members to partner in equitable ways that expand the field’s knowledge, and to encourage collaborations rooted in research justice and community-led transformations.

RMW-2: Qualitative Research Methods for Understanding Violence

Saltanat Childress, Arizona State University School of Social Work, Office of Gender-based Violence
Elizabeth Aparicio, University of Maryland at College Park, School of Public Health
Deborah Svoboda, Eastern Washington University, School of Social Work

Much of the social work research agenda focused on violence against women and children aims to test interventions and measure health outcomes. Less attention has been paid to the equally important component of ensuring that intervention and research approaches have a strong theoretical basis, thus helping ensure they are attuned and appropriate for a given context. Improving outcomes for women and families requires working with the right theoretical assumptions for the situation, ideally derived directly from the real lived experiences, practice situations, and specific contexts of those involved. This workshop will provide participants with multiple tools from three qualitative methodologies, demonstrated by case examples: 1) constructing grounded theory on help-seeking from domestic violence in Kyrgyzstan, 2) conducting interpretative phenomenologicalanalysis of how maltreated parenting young women aging out of foster care experience motherhood, and 3) investigating a single-case study of a U.S. domestic violence organization’s promotion of economic justice for survivors using an intrinsic design. Through lecture and exercises, the speakers will demonstrate concepts and analytical approaches applied during these varied qualitative research processes and summarize lessons learned through their collective experience.

RMW-3: Scholarship as Resistance: Critical Feminist Research and Writing

Yoosun Park, Smith College
Sara Goodkind, University of Pittsburgh
Ramona Beltran, University of Denver
Rupaleem Bhuyan, University of Toronto
Shirley Chau, University of British Columbia
Shweta Singh, Loyola University
Stéphanie Wahab, Portland State University

While feminist scholarship covers vast and contested theoretical and methodological landscapes, a core theme that unites all feminist research and writing is a politic of resistance. Feminist scholarship generates alternative forms of knowledge and ways of knowing to contest entrenched and dominant narratives not only to create more knowledge but also to disrupt the usual, the accepted, the already legitimated. Relevant to the current political tumult and climate of fear amongst many who claim marginalized identities, research and scholarship that challenges the center while claiming and reclaiming the margins is an urgent task for social work. The session will:

Introduce critical feminist scholarship in social work through illustrative exemplars:

Affilia‘s editorial board members will prepare brief remarks on the following topics: 1) Participatory research with Black girls to address systemic inequality, 2) The psychological and emotional violence of discrimination experienced by racialized immigrants, 3) Historical scholarship on gender and US immigration policy, 4) Scope of Feminist evaluation research and measurement with smaller non-profitprograms, and 5) Policy analysis of the production of deportability and gender-based violence for immigrants with precarious status.

Provide opportunity for interactive discussion of key questions:

What is critical feminist scholarship? What makes a study feminist? What makes a study critical?

What are barriers to doing feminist scholarship in social work?

What methodologies can be used? Are some more appropriate than others?

What are the epistemological and theoretical concerns?

What are criteria for appraising critical feminist scholarship in social work?

How does critical feminist scholarship contribute to resistance?

Engage participants in facilitated interactive small group activities to workshop projects in all stages of development.

Developing new ideas for research and writing

Gather collaborative feedback and input on current projects

RMW-4: Longitudinal Data Analysis and Latent Growth Curve Modeling

Din Chen, University of North Carolina

Longitudinal data are very commonly collected in social work research. Almost all social work researchers collected data by several time points which produced longitudinal data to evaluate the growth curve. However, the longitudinal data are temporally correlated which directly violate the fundamental assumption of independence in typically regression modelling and therefore erroneous conclusions and social policy recommendations could be made if the data are not analyzed appropriately. Therefore an appropriate analysis of longitudinal data is important to capture the intra-individual growth changes and inter-individual variabilities. This workshop is then designed to show how to do longitudinal data analysis using R package “lme” and latent growth curve modelling using Mplus.

This workshop aims to address the longitudinal data analysis which is common in social work research. We will review the classical longitudinal data analysis methods from multi-level and hierarchical modelling to test for within-individual longitudinal change and between-individual variability. Then a latent growth curve modelling will be introduced to analyze multi-domain longitudinal data using Mplus. Real data on study of 405 Hong Kong Chinese women who underwent cancer surgery will be used as a real example in the class to model the evidence of rate change in their mood and social adjustment at 1, 4, and 8 months post-surgery.

Special Sessions on Research Priorities and Capacity Building

Thursday, January 17, 2019 These training-oriented sessions target cutting-edge topics vital to contemporary social work research. Registration fee is $15. Enroll early for these important opportunities to engage with national experts, funding institutions, and research colleagues.

8:00 am – 10:00 am

SSRPCB-1: Developing successful minority scholars

This interactive session is designed for deans and directors, faculty, doctoral students, and others interested in building a pool of successful minority scholars and researchers in social work. It will include a discussion of 1) sharing strategies for MENTORING and training future scholars, 2) building research capacity to enhance their success for TENURE application, 3) making transdisciplinary and cross-university connections to increase the likelihood of successful GRANT submissions, 4) applying translational research strategies in COMMUNITY SERVICE to produce PUBLICATIONS and 5) deciding on how to pursue and accept JOB OFFERS. In addition, the panel will discuss strategies as well as tools for addressing obstacles faced by faculty of color. Examples of successful minority scholars will be provided.

SSRPCB-2: Capacity Building with Gender and Sexual Minorities

Jama Shelton, MSW, PhD – Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College
Vern Harner, University of Washington

In this workshop, we aim to equip participants with the knowledge to expand their capacity to conduct research with sexual and gender minorities in a manner that aligns with the social work profession’s commitment to advancing social justice. We will being by reviewing commonly reported challenges related to conducting research with sexual and gender minorities, and provide examples of how we have addressed some of those challenges in our own research. Adidtionally, we will critically examine the ways in which heterosexism, cisgenderism, and pathologically rooted conceptualizations of queer and trans identities and behaviors have informed research design. Participants will then think through ways to collect data that are inclusive and affirming of a range of gender identities, gender expressions, sexualities, and sexual behaviors.

SSRPCB-3: Qualitative Approached to Conducting Violence Research in a Transnational Setting

Sharvari Karandikar – Ohio State University

As social work researchers committed to studying issues around violence against women, we strive to conduct ethical research that highlights and emphasizes the voice of our participants. However, research on violence and lived experiences of the participants in diverse global setting is challenging particularly to researchers who are viewed as outsiders to the participants context. Qualitative research methods offer variety of ethical, community-based, grass-roots and participatory methods to conduct research that is valuable not just to the participants but also to advancing scholarship and policy making. This workshop will discuss various ways in which researchers can engage with the community. Ethical dilemmas and issues will be discussed along with challenges of navigating dynamics of being an insider and outsider to the research process. The workshop will also discuss challenges related to timeline, IRB’s and other issues that are specific to conducting violence research in a transnational setting.

8:00 am – 10:00 am

SSRPCB-4: Moving Research Into Action for Social Change

Mary McKay, Washington University in St. Louis
Sean Joe, Washington University in St. Louis
Tim McBride, Washington University in St. Louis
Gary Parker, Washington University in St. Louis

The goal of this workshop is to organize available options for scientists as they commit to the goal of rapid translation of knowledge into action. The skills needed to engage in the translational process, as well as collaborative teams necessary to advance action will be highlighted. Workshop participants will be exposed to a range of concrete ways that evidence is being used to inform current mobilization and advocacy efforts, practice or policy change initiatives. Examples of communication, social media and network convenings will be offered. Frameworks, strategies and work plans across a range of projects aimed at advancing change in child behavioral health practice and policy, social mobility and racial equity and health care transformation will be shared. Examples of policy briefs, informational materials, and conference agendas will be made available to participants.

SSRPCB-5: Innovative Methods for Disseminating Social Work Scholarship

Social work scholars often aspire to disseminate their research to larger audiences in order to translate to real world impact. However, tools and skills for dissemination are rarely taught in graduate school (beyond peer review) and are also constantly changing due to new technologies. Our grand challenges, ethics, and the SSWR commitment to translating research findings compels us to reach further than peer-reviewed journals in order to see social work scholarship making a difference in policy, practice, and discourses of social problems. This workshop will teach how research findings, frameworks and scholarship can be disseminated to a larger audience with the goal of impact that transforms other disciplines and reaches communities and stakeholders outside the academy. The authors will discuss traditional outlets (mainstream news, university presses), technologically driven outlets (twitter, social media, podcasts, YouTube), as well as ways to make data and findings more succinct and impactful (policy briefs, white papers, and public testimony).

Jill Messing – Arizona State University
Megan Lindsay Brown, Arizona State University
Drishti Sinha, Arizona State University

Interventions for serious social problems need to be accurate, efficient, and consistent. The use of technology can improve screening, assessment, and intervention. This workshop will walk users through the development of myPlan (www.myplanapp.org), an interactive, personalized safety decision aid developed to assist women in unsafe intimate relationships assess their danger, weigh their priorities, and access a personalized safety plan. Presenters will discuss the use of self-scoring algorithms for assessment, the importance of providing users with a private and safe space to consider their options, online delivery of information, and referral to social services.